I need help with this one

[mappleby]

Hi everyone... I took this shot a little while ago and I don't think that I am doing the view any justice with this photo. I have taken probably 10 shot of this church from similar vantage points (its hard to get closer as it is across a river and there are no roads or bridges to it )

Any suggestions with this would really be appreciated!
Thanks

PS there is another photo of the church from a slightly different spot and in B&W on my flickr Page http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1313/...c704dc6ee8.jpg

[jiminyClickit]

mappleby,

What would do it justice? Edit? New photo, closer? Tell us more of what you're thinking.

[clockdoc]

Hi. Thanks for posting your work and asking for suggestions. I am assuming this is your full view from your camera vantage point. What camera and focal length lens did you use? If this position is your only option then you may want to try shooting in the early morning or late evening to take advantage of the lighter tone of the church contrasted with the darker surroundings. You could also try a polarizing filter or even infrared if your camera responds to IR. Waiting for a day with some striking clouds may help as well or wait for a change in the weather like a snowy day or rain. Keep us updated on your progress and thanks again for posting.

[wulf]

Is the church somewhere near you? Looking at the image on Flickr, it looks like you must have used your 18-135mm lens. How about going back and taking a shot from the same point but at 18mm instead of 135mm. The church will be tiny but it will let those of us who can't go and stand there get an idea for what is outside the edges of the frame.

Again, time of day and weather conditions could well give some options - according to the EXIF data on Flickr, you took this a little before 3pm (if the time on your camera is correct). Is there any chance of getting there at dawn or just before dusk? If so, you could try that and observe how the results vary.

Wulf

[RussHeath]

I have to second Clockdoc's comments about time of day and a polarizing filter. It's a pain to get out to places at dawn or dusk sometimes, but almost all my favorite landscapes are shot at those times. The polarizing filter will enhance most shots like this at any time of day, but is particularly important if you need to shoot in the middle of the day. The sky will be bluer and lots of little reflections that you may not realize are there will be filtered, giving the shot better color and less washout from white light bouncing off everything. If you have a chance to shoot more, be sure to show us!

[Thunderpup]

Mappleby, good comments already given. Just my 2 cents, from your post it sounded like you want to get closer to the church. I'm not familiar with the D80, but if it can shoot in RAW, and you have software to deal with that format, then shoot RAW...then enhance in RAW before converting to jpeg, or whatever.I had my D200 for almost 2 years before I was able to deal with NEF....I shot everything in the best jpeg format I could. Now that I can manipulate RAW images, I'm flabbergasted at the difference..... You could crop out most of that image and still have a clean photo.

Me, I now have to go back and recapture my best images from the last two years....sigh.

[Nicole]

I like the composition in the B&W one better. It's quite nice. The only problem with it is that there's an awful lot of black at the bottom of the frame from the grass which doesn't really need to be there.

The colour picture isn't bad, but it doesn't really pop. Since your sig says it's ok to edit, this is what I came up with.



I cropped it to a 16:9 ratio to cut out the grass at the bottom, I used the velvia trick to make the colours pop, and then I adjusted the sky to make it less cyan and more blue by using the Hue/Saturation slider and selecting the cyan, and moving it more towards blue and making it a little darker. The colours might be a bit over the top, but it helped bring it out a bit more (and I'm kind of in a colourful phase at the moment ).

[mappleby]

Hi everyone! Sorry I have not been able to reply and thank everyone as I have been really busy studying for a Mid Term on Monday. (Joys of going to University as an adult)

Originally Posted by jiminyClickit

mappleby,

What would do it justice? Edit? New photo, closer? Tell us more of what you're thinking.

I guess I am having a hard time capturing the beauty of the scene. When you approach this view you are driving down a steep hill and all of a sudden it opens up to this incredible view... Two magnificent rivers joining into one, steep cliffs of jagged rock in colors of orange, brown and red with the contrast of the evergreen trees. Out of all this nature is a small, isolated one hundred year old church perched atop a 50 foot cliff.

I guess I am having a tough time getting image that I see into a single frame that does the setting any justice... I guess I have to keep trying to compose the shot better.

Originally Posted by clockdoc

What camera and focal length lens did you use? If this position is your only option then you may want to try shooting in the early morning or late evening to take advantage of the lighter tone of the church contrasted with the darker surroundings. You could also try a polarizing filter or even infrared if your camera responds to IR.

I took this shot at 135mm and at the time I didn't have a polarizing filter as it just arrived. It is fall here now (Northern Canada) so I think that going back and reshooting is something that I must do, there is now bright yellow leaves mixed in with the dark evergreens. I think that the contrasting colors now would have an even greater effect on the image that I would like to capture. Oh one other thing, at the time this was shot, being this far above the Arctic Circle sun never really went down. The only time that it would anywhere close to dawn and dusk was for about an hour between 3 and 4 am. Luckily is later in the years so its getting dark now.

Originally Posted by wulf

Is the church somewhere near you? ... The church will be tiny but it will let those of us who can't go and stand there get an idea for what is outside the edges of the frame.
Wulf

The Church is about 50 km away from where I live so I will be able to go back and reshoot. I currently don't have a shot at 18mm so I will definitely take one so everyone can give there composition ideas.

Originally Posted by Thunderpup

...Just my 2 cents, from your post it sounded like you want to get closer to the church. I'm not familiar with the D80, but if it can shoot in RAW, and you have software to deal with that format, then shoot RAW...then enhance in RAW before converting to jpeg, or whatever...

My D80 can shoot in RAW (NEF) and I have tried to use it on another shoot. However I am having difficulties with my post production software, Photoshop Elements. Its says that it cannot recognize the NEF format. I am not sure how to get around this because according to the Elements manual and website it should work... I am not sure what to do there.

Originally Posted by Nicole

I like the composition in the B&W one better. It's quite nice... The colour picture isn't bad, but it doesn't really pop. Since your sig says it's ok to edit, this is what I came up with...

Thanks Nicole I love what you did to make the colors jump out!!! I am checking the website to see what I can learn about PP as I am as green as it gets when it comes to Post Production. I like the B&W as well thanks for commenting. I like the B&W because it is a historical church that has been there since the missionaries came to that isolated settlement more than 100 years ago. I would like to find a way to make that photo look more "antique" I will have to look on the website that you mentioned earlier so see if there is a way to do that in PP... (I am sure that there is)

Thanks again to everyone for commenting of this photo I truly appreciate all the feedback and suggestions. I will take some more pictures of the area, applying your critiques, and see what I can come up with.

I will keep you posted
mappleby

[jiminyClickit]

mappleby,

DPS has a good thread on antiquing:

Antique Your Digital Images

[Nicole]

Originally Posted by mappleby

Hi everyone! Sorry I have not been able to reply and thank everyone as I have been really busy studying for a Mid Term on Monday. (Joys of going to University as an adult)

What are you studying? And I hope the mid-term went well

Originally Posted by mappleby

My D80 can shoot in RAW (NEF) and I have tried to use it on another shoot. However I am having difficulties with my post production software, Photoshop Elements. Its says that it cannot recognize the NEF format. I am not sure how to get around this because according to the Elements manual and website it should work... I am not sure what to do there.

What version of elements are you using? You may just need an update to the plugin, or you can convert RAW using Nikon's software. If I remember right, Elements 3 & 4 needed an extra plugin to make the RAW conversion work.